With 26 incredible short episodes of Love, Death & Robots available to be binged, it’s only right that we rank them in order of our favorite episodes.
For anyone who hasn’t watched Love, Death & Robots we highly recommend that you watch the series before reading our rankings below.
The animated anthology series is the brainchild of Tim Miller, the director of Deadpool, and David Fincher director of Fight Club, and executive producer of Netflix’s incredible crime-drama Mindhunter. Multiple animation studios from all across the world took part in the development of the series, showcasing the different levels of talent on offer in the world of animation.
Here are all of the Love, Death & Robots episodes ranked:
26. The Drowned Giant
The Drowned Giant – Episode 8 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
The animation behind The Drowned Giant is arguably one of the best of the entire series. However, what has the episode rooted at the bottom of the list is the story. We weren’t expecting death and destruction as we’d seen in other episodes of Love, Death & Robots, but we were expecting a plot with a little more oomph. At the very least a twist ending would have also been fun, but what we received was solemn, and a poetically told narration.
25. Sucker of Souls
Sucker of Souls – Episode 5 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
Of all the episodes of Love, Death & Robots, it would have to be Sucker of Souls as the episode where we least enjoyed the animation. By all means, the episode is still fun and there are lots to enjoy about Sucker of Souls, but overall it’s the animation that lets it down.
24. When the Yogurt Took Over
When the Yogurt Took Over – Episode 6 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
In both story and animation, When the Yogurt Took Over is one of the most bizarre episodes of the entire series. We know there are plenty of fans who enjoyed the episode, but overall there are plenty of episodes that outrank When the Yogurt Took Over for story and animation.
23. Fish Night
Fish Night – Episode 12 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
The animation of Fish Night is eerily reminiscent of TellTale Games, in the latter years of the video games company’s existence anyways. It takes just over five minutes before the episode finally kicks into gear, and we’re treated to an incredibly psychedelic display of luminous sea life in the middle of a US desert. Overall, the episode is great, but the first five minutes are what let it down.
22. Ice Age
Ice Age – Episode 16 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
The idea behind a mini-civilization is nothing new, as we’ve previously seen it done in The Simpsons, Futurama, and South Park but that certainly didn’t take anything away from how entertaining the episode was. However, as the concept is something we’ve seen done multiple times in the past makes Ice Age one of the least original stories of the series.
21. Ice
Ice – Episode 2 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
Ice was definitely a Marmite episode for many subscribers, and just because the episode is ranked so low in the list doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy it. The art style reminds us of Zima Blue, and just like the aforementioned episode reminds us of Samurai Jack. What we’d like to of seen from the episode is a distinctive visual difference between the individuals who are modded, and unmodded.
20. The Tall Grass
The Tall Grass – Episode 5 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
Even after multiple rewatches, it’s hard to figure exactly how we felt about this episode. While the animation was certainly enjoyable, and the story tense, it can’t be helped but think that this episode just needed a few more minutes. If anything it would have been cool to use The Tall Grass for one of the darker episodes we’ve come to expect from the Black Mirror-esque series that is Love, Death & Robots.
19. The Dump
The Dump – Episode 9 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
The Dump was a lot darker than we were ever expecting, especially the way in which it ended! Arguably we couldn’t think of many worse fates than what happens to The Inspector. Aside from the deformed looking human heads, The Dump has an eerily similar design to that of Automated Customer Service but is very much not to everyone’s taste.
18. Blind Spot
Blind Spot – Episode 15 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
Blind Spot is like the perfect blend between the concepts behind the video game franchises Borderlands and Cyberpunk 2077. On a rewatch of the episode, it certainly gave me a hankering to revisit the latter, and also left me wanting an animated series set in the Borderlands world. We’d be more than happy to settle for an Original animated series set in the world of Blind Spot as the mini-episode only just scratched the surface of an incredibly cool concept.
17. Automated Customer Service
Automated Customer Service – Episode 1 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
As character designs go, Automated Customer Service takes the cake for being one of the weirdest episodes of Love, Death & Robots. Overall a really fun episode with a dire warning of what might be arriving in our dreaded future, killer household appliances with predatory customer service.
16. Life Hutch
Life Hutch – Episode 7 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
Thanks to the casting of Michael B. Jordan, Life Hutch was one of the most anticipated episodes of volume 2. Sadly, the episode has left many subscribers, including ourselves a little bit disappointed. Jordan’s acting was fine, but it certainly felt like a lesser-known actor could have occupied the role, which could have increased the budget to add in more minutes of the episode.
While we do understand the purpose of each episode is to leave fans wanting more, Life Hutch would have greatly benefited with a few more minutes just to let the episode breathe, and flesh out the character of the pilot.
15. All Through the House
All Through the House – Episode 6 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
Who knew that going into All Through the House we’d end up with a version of Santa scarier than any Krampus we’ve seen. We’d love to learn what want into the animation behind the episode, as we’re sure we’re not the only ones that felt like this was shot to look like it was filmed using stop-motion.
14. Shape Shifters
Shape-Shifters – Episode 10 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
We previously criticized Fish Night for taking too long to get to the juicy part of the episode, and that’s what knocked it down the list. And while we also feel the same way about Shape Shifters, the payoff with the fight between Decker and the werewolf insurgents was more than worth the wait. Brutal, bloody, and incredibly violent, everything you’d want from seeing werewolves in a fight to the death with each other.
13. Lucky 13
Lucky 13 – Episode 13 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
It just goes to show how incredible the animation behind Lucky 13 is, as upon multiple rewatches it’s still incredibly hard to tell whether or not the face of Samira Wiley has been animated or not. The use of mo-cap is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and Sony (the animation studio behind the episode) continues to improve the tech year on year. You’ve only got to compare some of the earliest animated Resident Evil movies to Lucky 13 to see just how far mo-cap has come.
12. Alternate Histories
Alternate Histories – Episode 17 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
Alternate Histories doesn’t get the love it deserves. As lovers of history, and historical fiction, we will always be entertained by watching Hitler die in numerous and hilariously different ways.
11. Helping Hand
Helping Hand – Episode 11 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
One of the most brutal endings to any episode of Love, Death & Robots, Helping Hand managed to find the perfect blend between Gravity and 127 Hours. Incredibly well-animated, the crux of the episode where the astronaut is forced to remove her own frozen arm is not for the faint of heart.
10. Suits
Suits – Episode 4 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
Starship Troopers meets Titanfall in this thoroughly enjoyable episode of Love, Death & Robots. Of the many episodes on this list, Suits was certainly one that left us debating the idea of how cool it would be to see the world of Suits adapted into its very own Netflix Original series or movie.
9. Good Hunting
Good Hunting – Episode 8 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
Reimagining genres for fresh and bold new ideas are harder and harder to come by, but the team behind Good Hunting crafted a uniquely brutal, and yet beautiful steampunk world. As an r-rated, movie or series we’d love to see Good Hunting explored further, especially if we got the chance to see Yen enact her revenge upon those that wronged her, aided by a cool as hell Monk with an affinity for magical constructs.
8. Sonnie’s Edge
Sonnie’s Edge – Episode 1 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
As the very first episode of the series, Sonnie’s Edge helped set the bar for the entirety of the first volume. Yet another story that we wish we could see more of, it’s been two years and we still need to see this adapted into a feature-length movie or an epic TV series.
7. The Witness
The Witness – Episode 3 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
Anyone else feeling the Gorillaz vibes from The Witness? Vibrant and colorful, we also can’t help but compare the world of The Witness to that of Cyberpunk 2077, which also shares a similar level of sexual deviancy and violence. The Witness was one of the most unique and compelling episodes of the entire series and was extremely hard to turn away.
6. Snow in the Desert
Snow in the Desert – Episode 4 Volume 2 – Love, Death & Robots.
Of all of the episodes Love, Death & Robots has released, Snow in the Desert is arguably the best-animated episode to date. CGI continues to be pushed to the next level, especially with the level of realism on display in this episode. Blur Animation is the studio behind the entire series, and the level of quality of animation shouldn’t come as a surprise when you learn that the studio has worked on Avatar, Deadpool, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and many more.
5. The Secret War
The Secret War – Episode 18 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
What do you get when you combine the power of the USSR and 300? The Secret War.
Wonderfully animated, with fantastic action and an intense last stand, not to mention a beautifully explosive finale made for a thoroughly enjoyable 15 minutes.
4. Zima Blue
Zima Blue – Episode 14 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
In fiction, we’re not short on stories about Artificial Intelligence, especially when it comes to the destruction of mankind. But Zima Blue strayed incredibly far from the violence we’d seen throughout the series, and instead opted to force us into questioning our own place in the universe. The animation was very stylized, and once again reminded us slightly of Samurai Jack.
3. Three Robots
Three Robots – Episode 2 Volume 1 – Love, Death & Robots.
As a cat owner myself, it would be disastrous for the cat’s belly size if opposable thumbs gave them access to the treat jar and packets of food. An unexpected twist to say the least, especially after the majority of the episode was spent by our three robot friends questioning the logic behind human civilization and hilariously our flawed physiology.
2. Pop Squad
Pop Squad – Episode 2 Volume 3 – Love, Death & Robots.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Pop Squad was the best episode of the second volume. But it wasn’t quite enough to take our top spot for best episode overall.
In our own world countries like China once took to curbing the population by implementing the one-child law. Thankfully we’ve never reached the point where having children outright has become illegal, just like how it is presented in Pop Squad. Of course, the major difference is, in our world humanity hasn’t obtained immortality!
The best stories and dramas are often the darkest and by throwing in some child murder you’ve got yourself one of the best episodes of an entire anthology. We were thoroughly impressed by Pop Squad if that isn’t already obvious, and we’d be intrigued to see this world explored more.
1. Beyond the Aquila Rift
Beyond the Aquila Rift – Episode 1 Volume 7 – Love, Death & Robots.
It would be hard to imagine anything more terrifying than waking up to discover you’re the friends with the benefits of some giant skeletal spider alien. Truly the definition of the term mind f***, Beyond the Aquila Rift blew our minds the first time we watched it, and it’s still just as good on multiple rewatches.
It’s not hard to understand why the episode is at the top of our list. Out of all of the episodes Love, Death & Robots has released thus far, none of them have been able to capture the magic of a feature-length movie in only fifteen minutes of screen time.
What were your favorite episodes of Love, Death & Robots? Let us know in the comments below!
Netflix Synopsis: "Terrifying creatures, wicked surprises and dark comedy converge in this NSFW anthology of animated stories presented by Tim Miller and David Fincher."
